L.A.~Trickster Tales

We started back up again with some good 

old reading and writing practice. 

Spending  the last few weeks using 

Uncle Remus's Br er Rabbit to introduce 

tricksters to the kiddos.  

They are enthralled with this clever little 

southerner!  They hang on every accented word.

To do more writing practice we had Matthew
write letters to his uncle and auntie.
He had a good time learning to write out an actual
letter.  He didn't complain about writing so much
this way.  I think I should have some kind of pen pal.

I also had him create his own book.
A reader of sorts.  He had written a
very nice story a few years ago.  We took
that story and he rewrote it with pictures.

He still needs to do more work in this area.
once he gets started he likes it, but he still
does a lot of complaining when it comes
to writing.  I thought maybe if he learned a
little cursive it would be more interesting for him.
So, I have slowly started in with some Vimala.
We'll see how it goes.

For extra lesson we have spent many days
baking.  Brownies are by far the favorite.

Outdoors the last three weeks have been very interesting.


We had a huge snow fall.
 Although, beautiful I think everyone is ready for springtime!!!

Confused robin

We made the best of it and enjoyed ourselves.

Then it warmed up a bit and we climbed
stairs/"mountains" as Tillie calls it.

Now we have been able to shed our jackets and
do this...

digging for treasure with metal detector and grandma Judy!

We are so happy to see the sun!


Matthew also completed his testing this last week
This year we used SAT.  It is the test the MN schools
use.  Now I am waiting to see how he scored.
I already know he needs more practice with
reading and writing.  I think we may do another week
on tricksters.  I lost some time with the test. 

until next time~
Blessings everyone I hope you have been able to enjoy the
return of the warmth!!!

Break

After our spring nature week and 

our monumental Easter we took a 

much needed break.

This week we slowed down.

We took a trip out to my favorite waterfall 

to see it in the spring rush.  

We met new friends there and had a great time.

Willow river state park

 

the boys loving it

 We also took a trip downtown Minneapolis

with grandma to see the flower show.

A good friend recommended it and 

It was beautiful and so nice to see so 

much color again.

We made one pit stop...

We showed the kids the church that 

Tom and I were married in.

It was a good week.

until next week

~blessings

Nature/ spring

After the math block we celebrated a week of 

nature.  "Spring" is what we celebrated and 

looked for although this year we were having  

a bit of trouble.  We took nature walks and 

looked for signs.  It didn't seem like much was happening.

although the kids found some streams

and nesting birds. 

We started our garden seeds.

We made clay bird nests and eggs

Of course we colored eggs.

This year we used 

wild blueberries, turmeric, onion skins and paprika

Then Wes started experimenting.  

For read aloud I read the complete adventures of

Peter Rabbit of course :)

Tillie wanted to play Peter and Mr. Mcgregor

all day long.  Needless to say I did a lot of 

chasing that little bunny.

Mostly we spent the week really getting 

ready for the kids to receive their Sacraments.

Matthew has been taking religion classes for 

seven months and at the Easter vigil he received 

all of the Catholic Sacraments.  The other 

three children were baptized.  This was an 

amazing moment for our family for a lot of reasons.

Here are the kiddos with their Godparents!

Thank you everyone who shared this 

day with us.

 Matt and Lindsay you are amazing 

and we love you.

~blessings

Math

We then began a three week math block.

During this time we worked on carrying

and borrowing.  I presented it in many different

ways.  I needed a little something more. 

I found an approach I think really helped him 

grasp the whole idea.

I told the story of the wood cutter in the woods.

This is his wood shed...

He chops wood all day and puts it in the shed on 

the right side.  He is very organized and when he reaches

10 he bundles them and moves the bundles to the left side.

You get the idea.  We played with this a lot. Trying out new 

stories of carpenters coming and needing wood or bringing extra.

Then we did some traditional practice sheets.

Sometimes when he really starts to understand 

something I like to have him repeatedly practice 

and bring it all home :)

For extra lesson we spent more time on word 

families.  We rhymed and brainstormed new 

word families everyday.

For read aloud I read the 

Just So Stories

by Kipling

They loved these stories so much.

Just for fun I would do a printable 

coloring sheet on the animal or subject of the 

story.  

"the butterfly who stamped"

The boys are constantly working on their art.

Whenever I am not doing lessons they quickly grab

paper and pencil and draw.  They are drawing from the 

moment they rise and before bed they are finishing their pictures.

Wesley is the most driven.  With this their current projects have 

really started to develop.  It always surprises me how they view the world.

Here are some of their free time art...

Matthew will draw mazes all day long. 

He loves elaborate detailed scenes.

Here is one of those.

Wesley has been focusing on realistic drawings.

hockey player

Native American

buffalo

Emily and Daisy

Its fun to watch all the drawings.

I have gotten so inspired by them.

They are not self conscious, they just create.

I love art.

Mostly childrens'

~blessings

Animal Legends Cont.

 I am still playing a bit of catch up!!!

I really need to stay on top of this or I forget.

Here are the examples of Matthews

work from the animal legend block

 

We expounded upon all of the stories in different 

ways.  Through beeswax modeling, painting and 

we made paper bag puppets.

During this time I had him doing reading practice

from some of our readers.  Mostly he read from 

the Frog and Toad series.  

After this block his dad took him on an ice 

fishing trip!  He had an opportunity to catch big fish.

~blessings